Xu Baizhou looked at Fang Chen, confused.
People would normally avoid the Spirit God Sect. Who would actively approach them?
Xu Baizhou turned thoughtful. "Daoist Fang, this matter happened because of my bad luck. A few days ago, I went to the mountains to search for a spiritual herb. During that trip, I happened to run into Spirit God Sect cultivators doing their business.
"Naturally, I didn't want to get involved with them, so I took a detour. After obtaining the herb, I planned to leave. I never expected that they'd stop me, saying they had claimed the herb and demanded that I hand it over."
He paused for a moment. "I refused, and after some argument, I tried to leave quickly without getting entangled with them. But during the chase, I accidentally stumbled into a Spirit God Temple. Our battle inevitably caused some collateral damage, and the statue inside the temple was destroyed. From that moment, I was completely at odds with them."
Xu Baizhou sighed. "I thought they wouldn't know anything about my background, but when I returned to my cave dwelling, the Spirit God Sect cultivators showed up and blocked me. They've been troubling me for almost half a year."
After finishing his story, Xu Baizhou quickly asked, "Daoist Fang, how has my wife been in Youhuan City? Her constitution is special, and many Yin Walkers have been eyeing her. Now that I've been away for half a year...."
"Ma Minlong has some thoughts about her and has been deliberately preventing Yin Walkers from making deals with her, trying to stop anyone from coming to find you," Fang Chen replied with a light smile.
Xu Baizhou froze, his expression shifting rapidly. After a long silence, he clenched his teeth and said, "I didn't expect this person to be two-faced. I even thought of him as a friend. When I return to Youhuan City, I'll definitely settle the score with him."
"Then you might want to look for him in the Forgotten River. He was thrown into it," Fang Chen said with a smile.
Xu Baizhou was stunned. "The Forgotten River? His strength is among the very best in Youhan City. He even has some background. I heard he also worships the Spirit God. How could someone throw him into the Forgotten River?"
Fang Chen didn't answer directly. He instead asked, "Which is the largest Spirit God Temple nearby?"
"The largest Spirit God Temple..." Xu Baizhou thought for a moment. "The one I know of is about 60,000 miles away, in the Unreturning Mountain. I've heard that within a radius of several thousand miles, one in ten cultivators is from the Spirit God Sect, and about eighty percent are its followers."
After confirming the direction, Fang Chen smiled and said, "Alright, Daoist Xu, you should leave quickly and go to Youhuan City to look for her when you have time."
Xu Baizhou was surprised. "Daoist Fang, why are you asking me these things? You don't intend to go to Unreturning Mountain, do you? Do you have a grudge against the Spirit God Sect?
"If you had a grudge, killing those Spirit God Sect Foundation Building Realm cultivators just now would be enough. But if you go to Unreturning Mountain... I've heard there's a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator stationed there."
Fang Chen waved his hand, turning and flying toward Unreturning Mountain without a word.
Xu Baizhou stood there in a daze for a while, then muttered a few words under his breath before hastily leaving the area.
In the void, Fang Chen moved like a sword, his speed much faster than before.
Fang Chen found that his swordsmanship seemed to have slightly regressed after he had regained his cultivation. However, the regression wasn't obvious. The core of his swordsmanship still lay in Little Sword and the Eight Desolation Supreme Sword Scripture, which he had mastered.
After his cultivation was rebuilt, his connection to Little Sword was no longer the same as before, when it was bound to his life force. It was like he wasn't thoroughly a sword cultivator like before. However, while there was a diminish in swordsmanship, it wasn't that much.
He could still perform the Eight Desolation Supreme Sword Scripture and could use the Sword Transformation Technique.
However, the extreme sense of perfection was gone. When he wielded his sword, he could no longer reach the true pinnacle of its might.
Instead, what replaced that was a noticeable increase in his Heavenly Abhorrence Technique and Radiant Divine Eyes, along with other related abilities.
The ease with which he performed all Daoist techniques had increased dramatically, and their power had become far more terrifying.
Previously, when he activated the Radiant Divine Eyes, his affinity with various spiritual energies would increase a hundredfold. Now, that had at least doubled.
The Azure Lightning Technique, Skin Peeling Technique, Yin Soldier Technique, Three Heads and Six Arms... had all undergone substantial improvements.
These gains could likely be attributed to him rebuilding his cultivation and refining the Nine Heavens Profound Mother Primordial Spirit.
Fang Chen sighed softly. "I guess you can't have both the fish and bear's paws...."
Aside from the sword, Fang Chen had another path—the Heavenly Supreme Pill Technique. Fang Chen could choose a part of this path to use for his own benefit. While other cultivators were still troubled by how to acquire cultivation techniques, Fang Chen's concerns had become entirely different.
Unreturning Mountain, a vast mountain range stretching for thousands of miles, had at its center a magnificent temple.
Every day, countless cultivators came to worship and offer incense, and the prosperity of its incense offering was enough to make smaller sects envious.
Fang Chen's mind shifted, and a phantom entwined with nine Zhu Longs emerged from him.
It was his divine soul and his Nascent Soul.
Fang Chen's gaze pierced through the layers of void.
In an instant, he saw the terrifying swirl of incense power above the temple, constantly flowing into the void, heading toward an unknown destination.
The cultivators who had come to pay respects included those in the Qi Refining Realm, Foundation Building Realm, Golden Core Realm, and even those in the Nascent Soul Realm.
Inside the temple, three early stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivators stood guard beneath the spirit statue, their expressions calm as they observed the coming and going of the other cultivators.
As Fang Chen's divine soul returned to his core, a strange blue light flashed in his eyes. The spiritual energy in the void seemed to boil, and terrifying sword rain fell straight toward the temple.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"
"Dammit, who dares to strike at the Spirit God Sect!"
The sounds of rage and shock erupted.
However, in the blink of an eye, these cries were drowned out by the sword rain. Gigantic mushroom clouds, hundreds of feet high, rose from the ground.
When the dust settled, the entire mountain range had been leveled to the ground, and the grand temple had turned to ash.
Countless cultivators who hadn't yet ascended the mountain stood frozen in place, rubbing their eyes in disbelief, thinking they had seen an illusion.
The Unreturning Mountain... had been flattened? Even the Spirit God Temple on top had turned to dust!?
"Who did the Spirit God Sect offend to suffer such a devastating blow?"
The cultivators looked around in panic, trying to find the one responsible for the attack.
Fang Chen quietly observed the smoke below. Though these cultivators had died, their souls were still intact. One by one, they stood up in confusion, not knowing what had happened.
The three early stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivators who had been stationed here had been destroyed along with their Nascent Souls. However, the destruction of the Nascent Soul did not mean their souls had dispersed.
Their souls looked at each other in confusion. It took them several breaths to finally realize what had happened, their expressions filled with shock and anger.
We died?! We died just like that?! Died without getting to see who attacked us?
Soon, the souls of the other Spirit God Sect cultivators who had perished in the temple gathered around the three Nascent Souls. They cried out for vengeance, demanding the body of the one who had plotted against them to be torn apart.
Fang Chen continued to observe. Unfortunately, although the temple had been destroyed, there was no sign of the Spirit God descending.
Either this place wasn't important enough for its attention, or... it was likely that the Spirit God was not even in the Zhenwu Domain.
Although the incense path had its own methods, Fang Chen did not believe a First Rate Sect Leader had the ability to descend across realms.
One of the Nascent Souls said in a deep voice, "Fellow Souls, since this person dared to strike us in secret, it shows he had already made preparations. Now, we are but wandering souls with no ability to retaliate. Everything will have to wait until we reach Unreturning City."
As he spoke, white mist began to rise before him, forming the path to the Yellow Springs.